Of those players, the best prospect who could legitimately drop to the Cowboys’ third-round selection is Alabama DT Josh Chapman. I love Chapman, grading him far ahead of others as a late-first/early-second round talent. Check him out:

Chapman can get blown back at times, and he needs to work on his conditioning. However, he possesses a good pass rush, including one of the best swim moves of any defensive lineman in this class. Chapman is likely going to drop because he’s only 6’1” with 32-inch arms, and he’s not an elite athlete by any means, even for his size.

For Dallas, Chapman has the size to play the nose and five-technique. Jason Garrett loves versatility, and Chapman could provide the team a lot of flexibility inside. He just seems like a Cowboys type of guy.

Let me preface this by saying Allen is unlikely to fall into the third round. You can click the link to see why I like him so much, though, and with no tight ends off the board, he could fall some. If Georgia tight end Orson Charles sneaks ahead of Allen, he might just be an option.

Ben Jones, C, Georgia

Brandon Brooks, G, Miami (OH)

Brandon Washington, G, Miami

I have these players ranked back-to-back-to-back on my Big Board, all of them with legitimate second-round grades. You’d think at least one of the trio will fall, and there aren’t many other players I’d prefer over Jones and The Brandons.

Why not cap off the secondary transformation with a safety? Martin in particular seems like a likely target for Dallas. He’s intelligent and versatile enough to play either safety position.

Marcus Forston, DT, Miami

Jaye Howard, DT, Florida

DaJohn Harris, DT, USC

Defensive tackle is by far the most loaded position left on the board at this point. If Chapman isn’t an option in the third, any of the players above might be. I have second-round grades on all of them.

Ladarius Green, TE, Louisana-Lafayette

If the Cowboys hadn’t traded their second-rounder, I think tight end was a legitimate option for them at that point. With Allen likely to fall, Green could be the Cowboys’ guy. He’s a different sort of player than Martellus Bennett, though, so if the coaches are looking for a blocking replacement, this isn’t it.

Cam Johnson, DE/OLB, Virginia

Malik Jackson, DE/OLB, Tennessee

The edge-rusher cupboard is bare. I didn’t put Vinny Curry on this list because I can’t imagine him falling, and Courtney Upshaw will obviously be off the board as well. After those two, these are my top guys, ranked all the way down at No. 69 and No. 76, respectively.

One Response to Potential Cowboys’ Third-Round Selections in 2012 Draft

The way I see it we need passrush and a G/C now. Safety could be a need as well depending on how the Cowboys feel about there current bunch. As far as that goes we could say the same about the other two positions.

Safety-Sensabaugh, Poole, McCray, Church, Silva, Taplin-Ross- did I miss any? That’s a lot of bodies and Taplin-Ross was a guy that they wanted as a UDFA last season, but he was injured. Also Silva contributed onSS at the seasons end. So throw in Church and McCray with experience and the staff could feel OK about the position. I look for a pick at the position if the right guy is there. I guess the LSU kid or the Boise guy as a darkhorse.

Passrush-We have Lissemore, Geathers, Brent, and Callaway who have upside. Especially Lissemore if you look at his production per snap. Then at OLB we have Butler(who is still developing) and you have to wonder about the rookie from BC(Name eludes me at the moment). Eberflus kind of hand picked him I believe. Then we can also wonder does Carter have a little rush in him.

OG/C- We have a bunch of options here as well. With a new coach invovled, he may feel he can mold what we have. You have Nagy, Costa, and Kowalski who have already shown they can play either position. Then there is Arkin who has the size and mean streak. Throw in the two FA acquisitions and they could roll with it. Also Holland is still out there as a stop gap if needed. He probably won’t be healthy until camp anyway.

I like Wolfe, BeQuette, Brooks, Thompson, Fleming, Conrath, the rest of the way. The Taylor kid from LSU, and an ILB(Carder, Franklin), Maybe Hardin as a SS. Some of these could go in any rd or even UDFA.

Seems like they really put themselves in a position to go BPA. I’m happy so far, so we will see.